CHAPTER XX.

Impelled with steps unceasing to pursue
Some fleeting good that mocks me with the view;
That, like the circle, bounding earth and skies,
Allures from far, and, as I follow, flies.

GOLDSMITH.


Whenever Tom Gladding and Primus put their heads together, it was
pretty certain that there was some mischief afoot, and a few words of
the conversation, which we overhear, as they walk down the street in
company, leave no doubt on the subject.

"You see, Prime," said Gladding, "the foolish fellow ain't cured yet."

"Let us insult ober his case," said Primus.

"I thought he'd got enough; but, he's as parvarse as the nine lives of
a cat. Why, there was the whack at the island, and, then, the jam
on the ice, and, last, the scare in the snowstorm; a fellow's
unreasonable to want more, and, yet, the darn'd crittur's holding out
his platter."

"What you want to put in, Missa Gladding?"